Changing Oil in Volvo Saildrive

[EdEssery]

My boat came out of the water today and I changed the oil in the sail drive leg.

Draining it through the sump plug on the bottom of the leg was easy. Refilling it with oil afterwards was NOT!

The filler is at the back of the engine and accessed, on my boat, through a small circular hatch. As if it getting to it wasn't difficult enough - when I poured the oil into the filler it backed up, ran down the engine into the bilge. It seems you have to pour the oil in very slowly - I've no idea why.

I wasted about a litre and half of oil before I came up with a solution. I bought a metre length of 3/8" hose and a small funnel. I fitted end one of the hose tightly over the end of the filter funnel and stuffed the other end through the hatch in the aft cabin and down the hole for the dipstick (into which it fitted snugly). I then sat down in the aft cabin and slowly poured the oil out of a measuring jug into the filter funnel. Voila! No mess in the end but another piece of kit to keep on the boat.

If you've got a Volvo sail drive - I suggest you try this approach unless *you* know a better way?!

Ed

 

[tony_brighton]

Thanks for the tip - doing mine next week.

 

[PeterGibbs]

I have better access to the oil dipper opening so can squirt the highly expensive synthetic oil directly into the box without loss. I take the large cap off to facilitate venting.

Two other points won from hard personal experience:

1. The ring under the large so-called filler cap has to be replaced frequently - it stretches. If the fit is not snug oil will be driven out of the box with obvious consequences!

2. The oil has to be synthetic. For peace of mind in this department I use the Volvo stuff but buy it with care; in most places in Europe it is pounds cheaper per litre than here. There are other sources here - Keypart in Watford is one.

Incidentally I use mineral oil in the main engine (a Perkins derivative) becasue it will combine with any small quantities of water that happen to ingress, and bind the water up so limiting rusting of engine topgear!

PWG

 

[JeremyF]

How often do you have to change the oil in the saildrive? I thought it was every 2 years, so I was going to leave it this year.

<font color=red>Jeremy Flynn/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif
Dawn Chorus</font color=red>

 

[stamfordian]

hi,
you can buy a small hand pump which allows you to fill it thrugh yhe drain plug,check thread agaist pump fitting ,first before buy,they are for outboards really but can,t see why wouldn,t work on saildrive,you still spill a bit but you can contain it .

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.arweb.co.uk/argallery/stamfordian>http://www.arweb.co.uk/argallery/stamfordian</A>

 

[EdEssery]

My Saildrive (1988) pre dates common availability of Synthetic Oil - the manual clearlly says to use same oil as the engine. The engineers who did the initial overall of the engine when I bought the boat said the same thing.

However, if you have used Synthetic Oil in it (and I don't plan to) - you need to carry on doing so.

Ed

 

[EdEssery]

When I bought the boat a year ago the Saildrive seals had gone and the old oil was emulsified therefore I had new seals and an oil change done professionally.

I've done 105 engine hours since then. The oil that came out was quite clean and it probably would have gone another season. I plan to change it every season if only to confirm that the old oil is not emulsified - I wouldn't want to run around for a season with water in the oil. For the sake of a couple of litres of oil - I reckon the peace of mind is worth it - especially now I've figured out a painless way of doing the change.

Ed

 

[paulplatts]

Regarding small Volvo engines & saildrives - does anyone know of a source of manuals for these - searching the web I have not found a site with suitable downloads yet.

 

[brians]

I was advised by a Volvo engineer that it was not necessary to do an annual change unless ther were signs of problems e.g. change of oil colour or emulsification in which case urgent advice should be sought.

When you think about it BMW and Mercedes do not require annual oil changes to it's gearboxes and back axles and they are under far more extreme stress than a sail drive.

No doubt Volvo can come up with a good reason other than it being a nice little earner for Volvo and it's agents!

 

[brians]

I was advised by a Volvo engineer that it was not necessary to do an annual change unless there were signs of problems e.g. change of oil colour or emulsification in which case urgent advice should be sought.

When you think about it BMW and Mercedes do not require annual oil changes to it's gearboxes and back axles and they are under far more extreme stress than a sail drive.

No doubt Volvo can come up with a good reason - other than it being a nice little earner for Volvo and it's agents!

 

[Trilogy]

We serviced our Volvo 2020 saildrive ourselves for the first time this year. Had a quick chat with a very helpful engineer at Peters in Chichester who advised filling the saildrive via the dipstick tube as it was a lot quicker.

Worked fine with a small funnel and length of plastic tube.

They also advised that changing the oil every two years is fine.

Nick